Girdle



S. LEVY GIRDLE `Fan. 4, 1938.

Filed Jan. 24, 1955 INVENTOR. yJ/ f W BY m V/ A TTORN Patented Jan. 4, 1938 UNITED STATES GIRDLE Sid Levy, San Francisco, Calif., assignerv to John Hoffman, San Francisco, Calif.

Application January 24, 1935, serial No. 3,303

3 Claims.

The present invention relates to improvements in girdles and its principal object is to provide a girdle thatJ is distinctive in design, comfortable to the wearer, adapted to be easily washed and at the same time gives the desired shape to the body. More particularly my invention relates to a gridle that extends from the waistline downwardly over the abdominal region and the hips and to a girdle preferably made of material, well known in the art, that stretches both vertically and horizontally and one of the principal features of the invention is to provide a belt along the upper edge of the girdle whereby the material of the latter is prevented from curling and at th same time the body is shaped. f

A further object of the invention is to provide a belt that is made of elastic material stronger and more resistant than the girdle material.

A further object of the invention is to arrange the belt in such a manner that it is secured to the girdle at widely spaced points only and that between the points the belt is longer than the material covered thereby'so that when the girdle is placed in position on the human ligure, the girdle material itself can stretch a predetermined amount before the belt is placed under tension and whereby the stronger elastic resistance of the belt is called into play only after the girdle itself has been stretched sufficiently to reach the belt.

A further object of the invention is to arrange the belt in such a manner that it leaves the back of the person uncovered and extends only from one side of the body across the front to the other side, the fastening means being arranged slightly to the rear of the sides.

A further object of the invention is to fasten the belt, at its ends, to the girdle at a slight angle so that the upper edge of. the belt is slightly longer than the lower edge, conforming to the shape of the Waist which begins to expand toward the upper edge of the belt.

A further object of the invention is to provide vertical staves in connection with my girdle, the staves being arranged over the abdominal region and in such a manner that the belt overlies the upper ends thereof and causes the lower and intermediate portions of the staves to exert gentle pressure on the abdominal region.

A further object of the invention is to provide pockets for the staves on the inside of the girdle, the pockets being provided with openings through which the staves may be conveniently withdrawn where the use of the same is not desired or when the girdle is to be washed.

Other and further' objects of the invention will appear as the specification proceeds.

The preferred form of. the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which Figure 1 shows a front View of my girdle,

Figure 2 a top plan view of the same,

Figure 3 a vertical section through a front portion of the girdle taken along line 3-3 of Figure l.

Figure 4 a front view of a detached pocket for one of the staves of my girdle, and

Figure 5 a front view of modied form of a pocket accommodating a plurality of staves.

While I have shown only the preferred forms of my invention I wish to have it understood that variousV changes and modications may be made within the scope of the claims hereto attached without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Referring to the drawing in detail, the girdle l is made form-ritting to lreach from the waist downward to below the hips and is preferably made of so-called two-way stretch material, the knitting allowing of vertical stretch and elastic horizontal threads allowing of horizontal stretch. Other` materials of suitable make may be substituted.

At the upper edge of. the girdle I provide the belt 2 which is made of suitable width and of elastic material stronger than that of the girdle so that it offers greater resistance to stretching. The belt in its preferred form does not entirely encircle the girdle but extends only past the sides and over the front portion of the body. The belt is preferably fastened to the girdle at its ends indicated at 3, slightly to the rear of the sides, and preferably at slanting lines so as to make the upper edge of the belt slightly longer than the lower edge. The belt is not secured to the girdle throughout the length of the former, but only at widely-spaced points. In accordance with the form. shown in the drawing it is only fastened at three points, namely at the ends of. the belt and in the center front of the body as shown at 4. rIhe belt is also made considerably longer than the section of the girdle covered thereby as appears particularly well from Figure 2 so that the material of the girdle has to do considerable stretching before it reaches the belt. This allows the body of the wearer to stretch the girdle to the belt line against comparatively slight elastic resistance, while beyond that point it meets with. much greater resistance. The back is left free of the belt to avoid a certain amount of discomfort that would be experienced in bending operations.

The belt prevents curling of thermaterial of the girdle along Vits upper edge and also shapes and forms the body because of increased opposed resistance to the expansion of the gridle beyond a certain point.

For exerting inward pressure on the abdominal region of the body I provide means for arranging staves 5 to extend downwardly from the upper edge of the gridle. For this purpose I use, in the preferred form shown in Figures 1-4, vertical pockets t, one of which is shown in detail in Figure 4 which extend from the upper edge downward about halfway of the length of the girdle. The pockets are preferably made of stretchable, elastic material and are secured to the inside of the girdle at both ends. They consist of two rectangular pieces of material stitched together along the edges, the inner piece, that It will be noted that the upper ends of the staves are disposed underneath the belt 2 so that the greater compression force of the belt is utilized for urging the entire length of the staves firmly upon the abdominal region.

Suitable elastic fasteners 8 are provided along the bottom of the girdle for securing the same to the upper edges of the stockings, whereby the latter are supported while the girdle at the same time is maintained taut.

The manner in which my girdle operates will be readily understood from the foregoing description. The girdle is made to encircle the waist and hips of the body. The inherent elasticity of the girdle allows the waist portion to stretch rather freely until the belt is reached whereupon the resistance to further stretching is increased. The belt prevents curling of the upper edge of the girdle and at the samev time shapes the body. The staves exert compressive force upon the abdominal region and are urged against the abdomen by the belt bearing on the upper edges'of the staves. 'I'he staves may be readily removed when not desired. The back portion of the girdle is left free of the belt to avoid discomfort.

Figure 5 shows a slightly modified stave support in which a shield 9 is provided which is se-V cured to the inside of the girdle instead of the individual pockets. The shield is provided with a number of pairs of opposing pockets I0 adapted to removably receive the staves Il.

I claim:

1. A slip-on girdle made entirely of one piece of two-way stretchable material and being unbroken throughout the length and the circumference thereof and being form fitting to extend from the waist line downward over the hip portion of the body, the girdle having a straight unbroken upper edge, reinforcing means of elastic material overlying the front portion of the upper edge and arranged to leave the rear portion of the upper edge free to respond to bending movements of the body and pockets extending downwardly from the front portion of the upper edge of the girdle on the inside thereof and having staves therein extending vertically downward below the reinforcing means over the abdominal region, the said means bearing on the upper extremities of the staves for exerting gentlepressure on their lower extremities for urging the free ends thereof upon the abdominal region and the pockets having openings facing the girdle material through which the staves may be removed. V Y

2. In combination, a girdle of the character described made to extend from the waist line downward over the hip portion of a body, a reinforcing meansY along the upper front portion of the girdle and a pocket extending downwardly from the front portion of the upper edge of the girdleon the inside thereof and having staves therein extending vertically downward below the reinforcing means over the abdominal region, the reinforcing means being made to bear on the upper extremities of the staves for gently urging the lower extremities thereof upon the abdominal region.

3. In combination, a girdle of the character described made to extend from the waist line downward over the hip portion of a body, a reinforcing means along the upper front portion of the. girdle and staves extending vertically downward from the upper front edge of the girdle below the reinforcing means over the abdominal region, the reinforcing means being made to bear on .the upper extremities of the staves for gently urging the lower Yextremities thereof upon the abdominal region.

' SID LEVY. 

